A plan view of a conventional cutting machine is shown in FIG. 4, which includes a workpiece loading mechanism 1. The loading mechanism 1 includes inclined supporting rails 2a and 2b for horizontally holding in parallel elongated workpieces W perpendicularly to the rails. A horizontal work conveying path 3 is formed at the lower ends of the slanting support rails 2a and 2b. The workpieces W can be fed on the supporting rails 2a and 2b one by one to the horizontal conveying path 3. The support rails 2a and 2b extend perpendicularly outward and upward at a relatively gentle angle from the horizontal conveying path 3. The front support rail 2a has a positioning guide 4 for contact with the front ends of the workpieces W to position the pieces. Horizontal rollers 5 are provided in the conveying path 3 for supporting a workpiece W in a longitudinally movable manner. A work carrying vise 6 can hold a workpiece W arriving from the conveying path 3, and carry it to the cutting position P. Ordinarily, the vise 6 reciprocates between the ends of the workpath stroke S which is the length of a cut workpiece W. The vise 6 has a pair of guide rods 7, a carriage 8 supported on the rods 7 to reciprocate along them, and a hydraulic cylinder (not shown) for driving the carriage 8. Mounted on the carriage 8 are a fixed vise jaw 9a, a movable vise jaw 9b, and a hydraulic cylinder 10 for actuating the vise 9b.
The inclined positioning support rail 2a at the front of the loading mechanism 1 is located rearward from the rear end of the path of the movement L of the work carrying vise 6. The front end of the conveying path 3 is located rearward from the range L. The carriage 8 of the vise 6 is driven by the hydraulic cylinder (not shown). When a workpiece W is cut into pieces of the predetermined length, the carriage 8 reciprocates between the forward and rearward movement limiting positions of the stroke S as determined by stoppers (not shown). When changing the cutting length the position of the rear stopper is adjusted for setting the rearward movement limiting position of the carriage.
After cutting a workpiece W a next workpiece is transferred by work transfer apparatus (not shown) from the conveying path 3 onto the work carrying vise 6 at its rear limiting position shown by solid lines in FIG. 4. This lowers the working efficiency of the apparatus, and requires an additional mechanism. In that case, even if the carriage 8 is moved to the rear end of its range of movement L, a workpiece W cannot be fed onto the vise 6 by the loading mechanism 1, because the front end of the conveying path 3 is located rearward from the range L. In addition, it is very laborious and troublesome to change the position of the stopper.